Did a UFO destroy China’s moon rover?

According to Yahoo News UK, many in China believe a UFO is to blame for their recent moon rover’s demise, even scientists and engineers.

The official Chinese government story is that their rover, named Jade Rabbit, malfunctioned due to extreme cold. However, some scientists and military personnel have been telling state-run news stations that a UFO may have taken the rover out.

According to Nigel Watson, the author of The Haynes UFO Investigation Manual, Chinese UFO enthusiasts have been suggesting that either UFOs or the USA disabled the rover in order to keep it from discovering secret bases or other high-tech moon based secrets.

Nigel Watson (Credit: Plymouth Herald)

Watson told Yahoo News UK, “There has been a huge interest in this topic in China since the 1980s and the launch of the Jade Rabbit inspired a renewed interest in all space-related topics. At the moment China has 60 UFO researchers scattered throughout the country ready to investigate any alien encounters.”

Yahoo News UK says that UFOs are taken much more seriously in China. UFO stories in the news do not have the same tongue in cheek spin as they do in the U.S., and are covered in a serious manner. There are even UFO groups that require members to have published scientific papers.

China’s Yutu (“Jade Rabbit”) rover on the Moon’s Mare Imbrium, as pictured by the Chang’e-3 lunar lander, seen in the foreground. (Credit: CNS)

Contemporary UFO research in China was originally state sponsored. It started with a UFO Journal founded by Dr. Sun Shili. He sought permission to print his journal in the late 70s, and was surprised when the government offered to help him print it. At its peak it had a circulation of 40,000.

Sun Shili now runs Beijing’s official state-endorsed UFO society. Members are required to have degrees in science and engineering. He told Yahoo News UK, ”If our conditions for membership weren’t so strict, we’d have millions of members by now.”

“In the Western World the United States Airforce (USAF) sponsored Project Bluebook to collect UFO reports and debunk them as known phenomena such as misidentifications of stars, meteors or aircraft,” Watson told Yahoo News UK. “In China any information about UFOs was suppressed so when they had the opportunity they were keen to study the subject scientifically and find out as much as possible.”